U.S. patent application number 17/016357 was filed with the patent office on 2022-03-10 for group voice communication of walkie-talkie mode in bluetooth communication system.
The applicant listed for this patent is PixArt Imaging Inc.. Invention is credited to Yen-Min Chang, Shih-Feng Chen.
Application Number | 20220078584 17/016357 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | |
Filed Date | 2022-03-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20220078584 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chen; Shih-Feng ; et
al. |
March 10, 2022 |
GROUP VOICE COMMUNICATION OF WALKIE-TALKIE MODE IN BLUETOOTH
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
Abstract
A voice communication method between two or more wearable
electronic devices via Bluetooth communication includes: providing
the two or more wearable electronic devices paired with a mobile
phone device; determining whether a distance between the two or
more wearable electronic devices is larger than a distance
threshold; controlling a wearable electronic device to enter a
walkie-talkie mode to start a walkie-talkie conversation with one
or more other wearable electronic devices when the distance is
larger than the distance threshold; and during the walkie-talkie
mode using the such wearable electronic device to send voice data
from the wearable electronic device to one or more other wearable
electronic devices to make the other wearable electronic device(s)
to receive and play the voice data in the walkie-talkie mode for
different user(s).
Inventors: |
Chen; Shih-Feng; (Hsin-Chu
City, TW) ; Chang; Yen-Min; (Hsin-Chu City,
TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
PixArt Imaging Inc. |
Hsin-Chu City |
|
TW |
|
|
Appl. No.: |
17/016357 |
Filed: |
September 9, 2020 |
International
Class: |
H04W 4/10 20060101
H04W004/10; H04W 4/80 20060101 H04W004/80; H04B 1/3827 20060101
H04B001/3827; H04L 29/12 20060101 H04L029/12 |
Claims
1. A voice communication method between a first wearable electronic
device and at least one second wearable electronic device via
Bluetooth communication, comprising: providing the first wearable
electronic device paired with a mobile phone device and the at
least one second wearable electronic device paired with the mobile
phone device; determining whether a distance between the first
wearable electronic device and the at least one second wearable
electronic device is larger than a distance threshold; controlling
the first wearable electronic device to enter a walkie-talkie mode
to start a walkie-talkie conversation with the at least one second
wearable electronic device when the distance is larger than the
distance threshold; and during the walkie-talkie mode using the
first wearable electronic device to send voice data from the first
wearable electronic device to the at least one second wearable
electronic device to make the at least one second wearable
electronic device to receive and play the voice data in the
walkie-talkie mode for at least one different user.
2. The voice communication method of claim 1, wherein the voice
data is directly transmitted from the first wearable electronic
device to the at least one wearable electronic device through
Bluetooth communication between the first wearable electronic
device and the at least one second wearable electronic device.
3. The voice communication method of claim 2, wherein the voice
data is instead transmitted from the first wearable electronic
device to the mobile phone device and transferred from the mobile
phone device to the at least one second wearable electronic device
if direct transmission of voice data between the first wearable
electronic device and the at least one second wearable electronic
device fails.
4. The voice communication method of claim 1, wherein the voice
data is transmitted from the first wearable electronic device to
the mobile phone device and then transferred from the mobile phone
device to the at least one second wearable electronic device.
5. The voice communication method of claim 1, wherein the distance
between the first wearable electronic device and the at least one
second wearable electronic device is calculated according to a
Bluetooth direction finding operation or an radio-frequency (RF)
power level of a communication between the first wearable
electronic device and the at least one second wearable electronic
device.
6. The voice communication method of claim 1, wherein the first
wearable electronic device and the at least one second wearable
electronic device is classified into a same voice communication
group by classifying a media access control (MAC) addresses of the
first wearable electronic device and at least one MAC addresses of
the at least one second wearable electronic device into a specific
walkie-talkie group.
7. The voice communication method of claim 6, wherein a third
wearable electronic device is paired with the mobile phone device,
and the voice data of the first wearable electronic device is not
transmitted to the third wearable electronic device when an MAC
address of the third wearable electronic device is not classified
into the specific walkie-talkie group.
8. A voice communication method between a first wearable electronic
device and at least one second wearable electronic device via
Bluetooth communication standard, comprising: providing the first
wearable electronic device paired with a first mobile phone device
and the at least one second wearable electronic device paired with
at least one second mobile phone device; determining whether a
distance between the first wearable electronic device and the at
least one second wearable electronic device is larger than a
distance threshold; controlling the first wearable electronic
device to enter a walkie-talkie mode to start a walkie-talkie
conversation with the at least one second wearable electronic
device when the distance is larger than the distance threshold; and
during the walkie-talkie mode using the first wearable electronic
device to send voice data from the first wearable electronic device
to the at least one second wearable electronic device to make the
at least one second wearable electronic device receive and play the
voice data in the walkie-talkie mode for at least one different
user.
9. The voice communication method of claim 8, wherein the voice
data is transmitted from the first wearable electronic device to
the first mobile phone device based on a first Bluetooth
communication, then transferred from the first mobile phone device
to the at least one second mobile phone device based on internet
communication, and then transferred from the at least one second
mobile phone device to the at least one second wearable electronic
device based on at least one second Bluetooth communication.
10. The voice communication method of claim 8, wherein the voice
data is directly transmitted from the first wearable electronic
device to the at least one second wearable electronic device
through Bluetooth data communication between the first wearable
electronic device and the at least one second wearable electronic
device according to an MAC address of the first wearable electronic
device and at least one MAC address of the at least one second
wearable electronic device.
11. The voice communication method of claim 10, wherein the voice
data is instead transmitted from the first wearable electronic
device to the first mobile phone device based on a first Bluetooth
communication, then transferred from the first mobile phone device
to the at least one second mobile phone device based on internet
communication, and then transferred from the at least one second
mobile phone device to the at least one second wearable electronic
device based on at least one second Bluetooth communication if
direct transmission of the voice data between the first wearable
electronic device and the at least one second wearable electronic
device fails.
12. The voice communication method of claim 8, wherein the first
wearable electronic device and the at least one second wearable
electronic device is classified as a same voice group by
classifying an MAC addresses of the first wearable electronic
device and at least one MAC addresses of the at least one second
wearable electronic device into a specific walkie-talkie group of
the walkie-talkie mode.
13. The voice communication method of claim 12, wherein the voice
data of the first wearable electronic device is not transmitted to
a third wearable electronic device when an MAC address of a third
wearable electronic device is not in the specific walkie-talkie
group.
14. A first wearable electronic device which is paired with a
mobile phone device that is paired with at least one second
wearable electronic device, and the first wearable electronic
device is capable of communicating with the at least one second
wearable electronic device and comprises: a communication circuit,
for sensing a Bluetooth radio-frequency signal sent from the at
least one second wearable electronic device; and a processing
circuit, coupled to the communication circuit, for: determining
whether a distance between the first wearable electronic device and
the at least one second wearable electronic device is larger than a
distance threshold by detecting the Bluetooth radio-frequency
signal; controlling the first wearable electronic device to enter a
walkie-talkie mode to start a walkie-talkie conversation with the
at least one second wearable electronic device when the distance is
larger than the distance threshold; and during the walkie-talkie
mode using the communication circuit to send voice data from the
first wearable electronic device to the at least one second
wearable electronic device to make the at least one second wearable
electronic device receive and play the voice data for at least one
different user.
15. The first wearable electronic device of claim 14, wherein the
voice data is directly transmitted from the first wearable
electronic device to the at least one second wearable electronic
device through Bluetooth data communication between the first
wearable electronic device and the at least one second wearable
electronic device.
16. The first wearable electronic device of claim 15, wherein the
voice data is instead transmitted from the first wearable
electronic device to the mobile phone device and transferred from
the mobile phone device to the at least one second wearable
electronic device if direct transmission of voice data between the
first wearable electronic device and the at least one second
wearable electronic device fails.
17. The first wearable electronic device of claim 14, wherein the
voice data is transmitted from the first wearable electronic device
to the mobile phone device and then transferred from the mobile
phone device to the at least one second wearable electronic
device.
18. The first wearable electronic device of claim 14, wherein the
distance between the first wearable electronic device and the at
least one second wearable electronic device is calculated according
to a Bluetooth direction finding operation or an radio-frequency
(RF) power level of a communication between the first wearable
electronic device and the at least one second wearable electronic
device.
19. The first wearable electronic device of claim 14, wherein the
first wearable electronic device and the at least one second
wearable electronic device are classified as a same voice
communication group by classifying an MAC addresses of the first
wearable electronic device and at least one MAC addresses of the at
least one second wearable electronic device into a specific
walkie-talkie group of the walkie-talkie mode.
20. The first wearable electronic device of claim 18, wherein a
third wearable electronic device is paired with the mobile phone
device, and the voice data of the first wearable electronic device
is not transmitted to the third wearable electronic device when an
MAC address of the third wearable electronic device is not
classified into the specific walkie-talkie group.
21. A first wearable electronic device which is paired with a
mobile phone device which is communicate with at least one second
mobile phone device via Bluetooth communication or internet
communication, the at least one second mobile phone device being
paired with at least one second wearable electronic device, and the
first wearable electronic device comprises: a communication
circuit, for sensing a Bluetooth radio-frequency signal sent from
the at least one second wearable electronic device; and a
processing circuit, coupled to the communication circuit, for:
determining whether a distance between the first wearable
electronic device and the at least one second wearable electronic
device is larger than a distance threshold; controlling the first
wearable electronic device to enter a walkie-talkie mode to start a
walkie-talkie conversation with the at least one second wearable
electronic device when the distance is larger than the distance
threshold; and during the walkie-talkie mode using the
communication circuit to send voice data of the first wearable
electronic device to the at least one second wearable electronic
device to make the at least one second wearable electronic device
receive and play the voice data for at least one different
user.
22. The first wearable electronic device of claim 21, wherein the
voice data is transmitted from the first wearable electronic device
to the first mobile phone device based on a first Bluetooth
communication, then transferred from the first mobile phone device
to the at least one second mobile phone device based on the
internet communication, and then transferred from the at least one
second mobile phone device to the at least one second wearable
electronic device based on at least one second Bluetooth
communication.
23. The first wearable electronic device of claim 21, wherein the
voice data is transmitted from the first wearable electronic device
to the first mobile phone device based on a first Bluetooth
communication, then transferred from the first mobile phone device
to the at least one second mobile phone device based on the
Bluetooth communication, and then transferred from the at least one
second mobile phone device to the at least one second wearable
electronic device based on at least one second Bluetooth
communication.
24. The first wearable electronic device of claim 21, wherein the
first wearable electronic device and the at least one second
wearable electronic device are classified as a same voice
communication group by classifying an MAC addresses of the first
wearable electronic device and at least one MAC addresses of the at
least one second wearable electronic device into a specific
walkie-talkie group of the walkie-talkie mode.
25. The first wearable electronic device of claim 24, wherein the
voice data of the first wearable electronic device is not
transmitted to a third wearable electronic device when an MAC
address of the third wearable electronic device is not classified
into the walkie-talkie specific group of the walkie-talkie
mode.
26. A method applied into a first wearable electronic device which
is capable of communicating with at least one second wearable
electronic device or a stationary locator station via Bluetooth
communication, comprising: providing the first wearable electronic
device paired with a first mobile phone device; using at least one
of a distance detection and a direction finding operation in the
first wearable electronic device to determine whether a first
person using the first wearable electronic device contacts at least
one second person using the at least one second wearable electronic
device; and controlling the first wearable electronic device to
record unique information corresponding to the at least one second
wearable electronic device as contact information when it is
determined that the first person contacts the at least one second
person; wherein the contact information is used to generate a
contact/travel history of the first person using/carrying the first
wearable electronic device.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein the unique information
corresponding to the at least one second wearable electronic device
comprises at least one of: unique information of the at least one
second wearable electronic device, unique information of at least
one second mobile phone device paired with the at least one second
wearable electronic device, and unique/personal information of the
at least one second person corresponding to the at least one second
wearable electronic device.
28. The method of claim 26, further comprising: using the distance
detection to determine whether a distance between the first
wearable electronic device and the at least one second wearable
electronic device is smaller than a distance threshold so as to
determine whether the first person using the first wearable
electronic device contacts at least one second person using the at
least one second wearable electronic device.
29. The method of claim 26, further comprising: using the direction
finding operation to detect a head rotation angle of the first
person and a head rotation angle of the at least one second person
to determine whether first person is facing towards the at least
one second person so as to determine whether the first person using
the first wearable electronic device contacts at least one second
person using the at least one second wearable electronic
device.
30. The method of claim 26, further comprising: using at least one
of the distance detection and the direction finding operation in
the first wearable electronic device to determine whether the first
person using the first wearable electronic device contacts or
travels to an area/location of the stationary locator station; and
controlling the first wearable electronic device to record
place/location information corresponding to the stationary locator
station as the contact information when it is determined that the
first person contacts or travels to the area/location of the
stationary locator station.
31. A first wearable electronic device which is capable of
communicating with at least one second wearable electronic device
via Bluetooth communication, the first wearable electronic device
to be paired with a first mobile phone device and comprising: a
processing circuit, configured for using at least one of a distance
detection and a direction finding operation in the first wearable
electronic device to determine a first person using the first
wearable electronic device contacts at least one second person
using the at least one second wearable electronic device; and a
memory, coupled to the processing circuit, configured for recording
or storing unique information corresponding to the at least one
second wearable electronic device as contact information when it is
determined that the first person contacts the at least one second
person; wherein the contact information is used to generate a
contact/travel history of the first person using/carrying the first
wearable electronic device.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
[0001] The invention relates to a group voice communication scheme,
and more particularly to a group voice communication method in a
Bluetooth communication system and corresponding wearable
electronic device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
[0002] Generally speaking, a conventional earphone device
supporting Bluetooth communication is usually used for playing
audio of music streams for a user by receiving the music streams
transmitted from a mobile phone device and/or another earphone
device. However, the conventional earphone device cannot be used by
a user to perform group voice communication with different persons
respectively operating different earphone devices via Bluetooth
communications.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Therefore one of the objectives of the invention is to
provide a group voice communication method in a Bluetooth
communication system and corresponding wearable electronic device
such as earphone device, to achieve group voice communication of a
walkie-talkie mode in the Bluetooth communication system so as to
solve the above-mentioned problems.
[0004] According to embodiments of the invention, a voice
communication method between a first wearable electronic device and
at least one second wearable electronic device via Bluetooth
communication is disclosed. The method comprises: providing the
first wearable electronic device paired with a mobile phone device
and the at least one second wearable electronic device paired with
the mobile phone device; determining whether a distance between the
first wearable electronic device and the at least one second
wearable electronic device is larger than a distance threshold;
controlling the first wearable electronic device to enter a
walkie-talkie mode to start a walkie-talkie conversation with the
at least one second wearable electronic device when the distance is
larger than the distance threshold; and during the walkie-talkie
mode using the first wearable electronic device to send voice data
from the first wearable electronic device to the at least one
second wearable electronic device to make the at least one second
wearable electronic device to receive and play the voice data in
the walkie-talkie mode for at least one different user.
[0005] According to the embodiments, a voice communication method
between a first wearable electronic device and at least one second
wearable electronic device via Bluetooth communication standard is
disclosed. The method comprises: providing the first wearable
electronic device paired with a first mobile phone device and the
at least one second wearable electronic device paired with at least
one second mobile phone device; determining whether a distance
between the first wearable electronic device and the at least one
second wearable electronic device is larger than a distance
threshold; controlling the first wearable electronic device to
enter a walkie-talkie mode to start a walkie-talkie conversation
with the at least one second wearable electronic device when the
distance is larger than the distance threshold; and during the
walkie-talkie mode using the first wearable electronic device to
send voice data from the first wearable electronic device to the at
least one second wearable electronic device to make the at least
one second wearable electronic device receive and play the voice
data in the walkie-talkie mode for at least one different user.
[0006] According to the embodiments, a first wearable electronic
device which is paired with a mobile phone device that is paired
with at least one second wearable electronic device is disclosed.
The first wearable electronic device is capable of communicating
with the at least one second wearable electronic device and
comprises a communication circuit and a processing circuit. The
communication circuit is arranged for sensing a Bluetooth
radio-frequency signal sent from the at least one second wearable
electronic device. The processing circuit is coupled to the
communication circuit and arranged for: determining whether a
distance between the first wearable electronic device and the at
least one second wearable electronic device is larger than a
distance threshold by detecting the Bluetooth radio-frequency
signal; controlling the first wearable electronic device to enter a
walkie-talkie mode to start a walkie-talkie conversation with the
at least one second wearable electronic device when the distance is
larger than the distance threshold; and during the walkie-talkie
mode using the communication circuit to send voice data from the
first wearable electronic device to the at least one second
wearable electronic device to make the at least one second wearable
electronic device receive and play the voice data for at least one
different user.
[0007] According to the embodiments, a first wearable electronic
device which is paired with a mobile phone device which is
communicate with at least one second mobile phone device via
Bluetooth communication or internet communication is disclosed. The
at least one second mobile phone device is paired with at least one
second wearable electronic device, and the first wearable
electronic device comprises a communication circuit and a
processing circuit. The communication circuit is arranged for
sensing a Bluetooth radio-frequency signal sent from the at least
one second wearable electronic device. The processing circuit is
coupled to the communication circuit and is arranged for:
determining whether a distance between the first wearable
electronic device and the at least one second wearable electronic
device is larger than a distance threshold; controlling the first
wearable electronic device to enter a walkie-talkie mode to start a
walkie-talkie conversation with the at least one second wearable
electronic device when the distance is larger than the distance
threshold; and during the walkie-talkie mode using the
communication circuit to send voice data of the first wearable
electronic device to the at least one second wearable electronic
device to make the at least one second wearable electronic device
receive and play the voice data for at least one different
user.
[0008] According to the embodiments, a method applied into a first
wearable electronic device which is capable of communicating with
at least one second wearable electronic device or a stationary
locator station via Bluetooth communication is disclosed. The
method comprises: providing the first wearable electronic device
paired with a first mobile phone device; using at least one of a
distance detection and a direction finding operation in the first
wearable electronic device to determine whether a first person
using the first wearable electronic device contacts at least one
second person using the at least one second wearable electronic
device; and controlling the first wearable electronic device to
record unique information corresponding to the at least one second
wearable electronic device as contact information when it is
determined that the first person contacts the at least one second
person; the contact information is used to generate a
contact/travel history of the first person using/carrying the first
wearable electronic device.
[0009] According to the embodiments, a first wearable electronic
device which is capable of communicating with at least one second
wearable electronic device via Bluetooth communication is
disclosed. The first wearable electronic device is to be paired
with a first mobile phone device and comprises a processing circuit
and a memory. The processing circuit is configured for using at
least one of a distance detection and a direction finding operation
in the first wearable electronic device to determine a first person
using the first wearable electronic device contacts at least one
second person using the at least one second wearable electronic
device. The memory is coupled to the processing circuit, and is
configured for recording or storing unique information
corresponding to the at least one second wearable electronic device
as contact information when it is determined that the first person
contacts the at least one second person. The contact information is
used to generate a contact/travel history of the first person
using/carrying the first wearable electronic device.
[0010] These and other objectives of the present invention will no
doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after
reading the following detailed description of the preferred
embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a wearable/portable
electronic device and a mobile phone device according to an
embodiment of the invention.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the operations of mode switching
when the wearable electronic device is used to implement the two
earphone devices such as an earphone device for user's right ear
and an earphone device for a user's left ear according to an
embodiment of the invention.
[0013] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of multiple earphone
devices paired with a single one mobile phone device according to
an embodiment of the invention.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example of multiple users/persons
belonging to the same group talking with each other in the
walkie-talkie mode by using two mobile phone devices to
transfer/relay voice packet signals of the walkie-talkie mode
according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0015] FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of multiple users/persons
belonging to the same group talking with each other in the
walkie-talkie mode by using more than two mobile phone devices to
transfer/relay voice packet signals of the walkie-talkie mode
according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0016] FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example of multiple users/persons
belonging to the same group talking with each other in the
walkie-talkie mode by using a station of a different wireless
communication standard to transfer/relay voice packet signals of
the walkie-talkie mode according to an embodiment of the
invention.
[0017] FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example of using the Bluetooth
direction finding capability of wearable electronic device to
generate and obtain the travel history of the person/user using the
wearable electronic device according to an embodiment of the
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0018] The invention aims at providing a Bluetooth communication
method and wearable electronic device implemented as a
wearable/portable electronic device which can be worn or used by a
user, to support both of an audio/voice playing mode and a
walkie-talkie mode. Such wearable/portable electronic device can
automatically switch from the audio/voice playing mode to the
walkie-talkie mode and switch back to the audio/voice playing mode
from the walkie-talkie mode, so that the wearable/portable
electronic device can intelligently provide the operations and
functions of the audio/voice playing mode and walkie-talkie mode in
different situations respectively for different applications of
users.
[0019] Refer to FIG. 1 in conjunction with FIG. 2. FIG. 1 is a
schematic block diagram of a wearable/portable electronic device
100 and a mobile phone device 110 according to an embodiment of the
invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the operations of mode
switching when the wearable electronic device 100 is used to
implement the two earphone devices such as an earphone device 100R
for user's right ear and an earphone device 100L for a user's left
ear according to an embodiment of the invention. Each of earphone
devices 100R and 100L comprise the same circuit components of the
wearable electronic device 100. The earphone devices may support
true wireless stereo functions and operations.
[0020] In FIG. 1, the wearable/portable electronic device 100 for
example is an earphone/earbud device used for the left/right ear of
a user (but not limited) and having Bluetooth communication
capability to communicate with the mobile phone device 110; the
earphone device 100 is successfully paired with the mobile phone
device 110 via the Bluetooth communication. The earphone device 100
comprises a processing circuit 101 such as a microcontroller (MCU),
a communication circuit 102 supporting Bluetooth communication
capability, a memory 103 used for storing or recording unique
information in the database INFO1 used in the walkie-talkie mode, a
voice output unit 104 such as a speaker, and a voice input unit 105
such as a microphone unit. For example, the information database
INFO1 recorded in the wearable electronic device 100 may comprise
media access control (MAC) address(es), device identification (ID),
name information (comprising device names and/or usernames), and/or
other unique information of one or more other different wearable
electronic devices in the same walkie-talkie group of the
walkie-talkie mode which the wearable electronic device 100 also
belongs to wherein the different wearable electronic device(s) may
be paired with or not paired with the mobile phone device 110. The
information of device names and/or usernames recorded in the
information database INFO1 can be used to indicate multiple
different walkie-talkie groups and name information of members in
each walkie-talkie group so that a user operating and using the
wearable electronic device 100 can know which persons may hear his
sounds/voices. The operations associated with information database
INFO1 are described in other paragraphs later.
[0021] The mobile phone device 110 comprises a communication unit
115, a processing unit 120, and an interface unit 125. The
communication unit 115 is used for communicating with the wearable
electronic devices 101L and 101R respectively via Bluetooth
communications to transfer or relay signals. The processing unit
120 is arranged to control the communication unit 115. The
processing unit 120 for example is a digital processor or may be a
central processing unit (CPU) implemented by hardware components,
firmware components, software components, or a combination of
hardware, firmware, and software components. The communication unit
115 may comprise a portion of communication circuits capable of
supporting the Bluetooth communication standard, IEEE 802.11 family
of standards, and/or wires broadband communication or mobile
communication standard. In practice, the communication unit 115 may
be a single integrated circuit which supports the Bluetooth
communication standard, IEEE 802.11 family of standards, or
wireless broadband communication or mobile communication standard.
Alternatively, the communication unit 115 may comprise multiple
integrated circuits supporting different communication standards.
This is not intended to be a limitation. In addition, the interface
unit 125 is a user interface which can be operated by a user to
activate or execute one or more mobile/software applications
running on and executed by the processing unit 120.
[0022] The earphone device 100 comprises the audio playing mode and
the walkie-talkie mode. The processing circuit 101 can determine
the distance between the earphone device 100 itself and at least
one wearable electronic device (e.g. one or more different earphone
devices) which is also successfully paired with the mobile phone
device 110. The earphone device 100 can determine whether the
distance is larger than a specific distance threshold TH to
determine whether to perform mode switching between the audio
playing mode and walkie-talkie mode according to the determined
distance. For example, in FIG. 2 the earphone device 100R can
detect the signal power of a Bluetooth signal sent from another
earphone device 100L to determine whether the distance between two
earphone devices 100R and 100L is larger than the specific distance
threshold TH.
[0023] In practice, the processing circuit 101 can control the
communication circuit 102 to real-timely or periodically detect the
signal power (e.g. radio-frequency power level) of the Bluetooth
radio-frequency signal sent from at least one another earphone
device such as earphone device paired with the mobile phone device
110 and then to calculate/estimate the distance between the
earphone devices based on the magnitude of detected signal power.
Alternatively, in other embodiments, the processing circuit 101 can
use a Bluetooth direction finding operation to detect the angle of
arrival/departure of the Bluetooth signal sent from one or more
different earphone devices paired with the mobile phone device 110
to determine or calculate the distance. Alternatively, in other
embodiments, the processing circuit 101 may use connection signal
information carried in the Bluetooth signal sent from the one or
more different earphone devices to determine or calculate the
distance.
[0024] In addition, the specific distance threshold TH for example
is equal to three meters (but not limited). In one embodiment, the
specific distance threshold TH may be different and determined by
different users respectively.
[0025] The processing circuit 101 is arranged to compare the
determined/calculated distance with the specific distance threshold
TH to determine whether to perform mode switching. If the distance
is smaller than the specific distance threshold TH, then the
processing circuit 101 may determine that the earphone device 100
and the other earphone device(s) in this situation may be used by
the same user/person to listen to music or may be used by different
users/person which are near to share and listen to the music. The
processing circuit 101 thus determines that the earphone device 100
is in the audio playing mode or kept in the audio playing mode.
Refer to FIG. 2 again. In the example of the left of FIG. 2, the
calculated distance is smaller than the specific distance threshold
TH, and the earphone devices 100R and 100L (respectively
implemented by the wearable electronic device 100) determines to
keep in the audio playing mode. In the audio playing mode, the
mobile phone device 110 may send audio (mono or stereo channel)
packet stream(s) to the earphone devices 100L and 100R, and the
communication circuits 102 in the earphone devices 100L and 100R
can receive audio packet stream(s) sent from the mobile phone
device 110 respectively. In another embodiment, one earphone device
such as earphone device 100L (but not limited) if used as a slave
can receive audio packet stream sent from the mobile phone device
110 and relayed by the other ear phone device 100r if used as a
master. In the left of FIG. 2, the processing circuits 101 in the
earphone devices 100L and 100R can control the corresponding voice
output units 104 (i.e. speakers) to respectively play
audio/sound/music of left change and right channel for the same
user UA based on the received audio packet stream(s) sent from the
corresponding communication circuits 102.
[0026] When the distance is larger than the specific distance
threshold TH, the processing circuit 101 may determine that the
wearable electronic device 100 and other electronic device(s) may
be used by different users/persons which are not near to, and thus
may determine to control the wearable electronic device 100 enter
the walkie-talkie mode to start a walkie-talkie conversation with
one or more persons. For example, in the right of FIG. 2, the
processing circuits 101 of wearable electronic devices 100
(respectively implement the earphone devices 100R and 100L) may
determine to enter the walkie-talkie mode when the distance between
the two earphone devices 100R and 100L is larger than the specific
distance threshold TH. In this situation, the processing circuits
101 in two earphone devices 100R and 100L may determine that the
earphone devices 100R and 100L may be worn by different users UA
and UB and thus may respectively control the earphone devices 100R
and 100L enter the walkie-talkie mode to perform group voice
communications between the different users such as UA and UB in the
walkie-talkie mode. The processing circuits 101 may automatically
and/or simultaneously control the earphone devices 100R and 100L
enter the walkie-talkie mode once the distance mentioned above
becomes larger than the specific distance threshold TH. The
processing circuits 101 may automatically and/or simultaneously
control the earphone devices 100R and 100L switchback to the audio
playing mode from the walkie-talkie mode once the distance
mentioned above becomes smaller than the specific distance
threshold TH.
[0027] Further, in one embodiment, the group voice communication of
the walkie-talkie mode may be triggered or by one earphone device
when detecting that the distance is larger than the specific
distance threshold TH, and this needs to be allowed or accepted by
one or more other earphone devices later to establish the group
voice communication. For example, in FIG. 2, the earphone devices
100R and 100L can negotiate with each other to determine whether to
enter the walkie-talkie mode, instead of automatically switching to
the walkie-talkie mode. For instance, when detecting that the
distance is larger than the distance threshold TH, the processing
circuit 101 of an earphone device such as 100R may control the
voice output unit 104 to play a voice message for the user UA to
check whether the user UA wants to enter the walkie-talkie mode.
The user UA for example may make a voice control command, tap, or
click the earphone device 100R to confirm or reject such voice
message; the processing circuit 101 can use the voice input unit
105 to receive the voice control command. If the user UA confirms
the walkie-talkie mode, then the processing circuit 101 in the
earphone device 100R controls the communication circuit 102 to
generate and send a request signal (used for requesting enter the
walkie-talkie mode) from the earphone device 100R to the other
earphone device 100L via direct Bluetooth communication if the
earphone devices are also paired or from the earphone device 100R
to the other earphone device 100L via the mobile phone device 110
if the earphone devices are not paired.
[0028] For the earphone device 100L, when receiving the request
signal of the earphone device 100R, the processing circuit 101 in
the earphone device 100L is arranged to control the corresponding
voice output unit 104 to play a voice message of such request
signal for the user UB so that the user UB can accept or reject
such request by making a voice control command, tap, or click the
earphone device 100L; the corresponding voice input unit 105 in the
earphone device 100L can receive the voice control command of the
user UB. If such request signal is accepted by the user UB, then
the processing circuit 101 in the earphone device 100L controls the
corresponding communication circuit 102 to generate and send a
response signal from the earphone device 100L to the other earphone
device 100R via direct Bluetooth communication if the earphone
devices are also paired or from the earphone device 100L to the
other earphone device 100R via the mobile phone device 110 if the
earphone devices are not paired. If the response signal indicates
that the user UB accepts the walkie-talkie modem, then the earphone
devices 100R and 100L can enter the walkie-talkie mode so that the
users UA and UB can respectively use the earphone devices 100R and
100L to perform group voice communication. The voice data (e.g.
voice packet(s)) of the group voice communication may be relayed
via the mobile phone device 110 or can be directly transmitted
between the earphone devices 100R and 100L. For example, the voice
data of walkie-talkie conversation may be instead transferred via
the mobile phone device if direct transmission of the voice data
between the two wearable electronic devices (i.e. earphone devices
100R and 100L) fails.
[0029] That is, when an earphone device implemented by the wearable
electronic device 100 detects that the distance between such
earphone device and other earphone device(s) is larger than the
specific distance threshold, the earphone device can automatically
enter the walkie-talkie mode or can play a voice auxiliary message
for a user so that the user can choose whether to enter the
walkie-talkie mode by himself. Thus, the earphone devices 100R and
100L, implemented by the wearable electronic device 100, can
provide the flexibility for the users UA and UB to keep in the
audio playing mode and not to enter the walkie-talkie mode even
though the distance between the earphone devices 100R and 100L is
larger.
[0030] When the earphone devices 100R and 100L are in the
walkie-talkie mode, the processing circuit 101 in each earphone
devices 100R and 100L can control the corresponding communication
circuit to generate and transmit a voice packet signal in response
to voices/sounds of users UA/UB wherein the voices/sounds can be
sensed, received, and encapsulated by the corresponding voice input
units 105 to generate voice packet signals. For the mobile phone
device 110, the processing unit 120 controls the communication unit
115 to transfer and relay the voice packet signal, sent from the
earphone device such as 100R, to the other earphone device such as
100L. When receiving the voice packet signal relayed from the
mobile phone device 110, the processing circuits 101 in each
earphone devices 100R and 100L can control the corresponding voice
output units 104 to play voices/sounds of the other users for the
current users. In practice, playing the voice packet signal may use
the telephone mode of the mobile phone device 110 to automatically
and directly interrupt the operation(s) currently executed by the
earphone device such as 100L. That is, when the earphone device
100L is in the walkie-talkie mode, the earphone device 100L can be
automatically interrupted to play the voice packet signal from the
earphone device 100R.
[0031] It should be noted that, in the embodiment of FIG. 2, when
the user UA operates the earphone devices 100R and 100L in the
audio playing mode (i.e. the distance between two earphone device
is smaller than the specific distance threshold TH, and more
particularly is smaller than an extremely threshold smaller than
TH), the earphone devices 100R and 100L can be classified into the
same voice communication group by the user UA, the earphone devices
100R and 100L exchange and share the MAC addresses of the earphone
devices 100R and 100L, MAC address of the mobile phone device 110,
and other unique information. For example, the information of
database INFO1 respectively recorded in each of the earphone
devices 100R and 100L may be represented by the following
table:
TABLE-US-00001 Address of Address of Group info Member device
mobile phone Name info A ADDR_L ADDR_110 N_L ADDR_R ADDR_110
N_R
[0032] In the table, the walkie-talkie group `A` for example
comprises two member devices (e.g. earphone devices 100L and 100R)
having the MAC addresses ADDR_L and ADDR_R, the same MAC address
ADDR_110 of the mobile phone device 110, and different name
information such as N_L and N_R respectively representing left ear
and right ear. It is noted, the information database INFO1 may be
not needed to be used. That is, the information database INFO1 is
optional in the above embodiment; however, this is not intended to
be a limitation.
[0033] In another embodiment, more than two earphone devices paired
with a single one mobile phone device can use by more than two
different users/persons in the walkie-talkie mode to perform voice
communication in one voice group or respectively in different voice
groups to implement different group talks/conversations. FIG. 3 is
a diagram showing an example of multiple earphone devices paired
with a single one mobile phone device according to an embodiment of
the invention. Each of the earphone devices 100_1, 100_2, 100_3,
100_4, and 100_5, respectively used by users U1, U2, U3, U4, and
U5, is implemented by the wearable electronic device 100 in FIG. 1.
The operations and circuit components of the wearable electronic
device 100 are identical to those of each of the earphone devices
100_1, 100_2, 100_3, 100_4, and 100_5.
[0034] As shown in FIG. 3, within the signal transmission/reception
range of the mobile phone device 110, for example, users/persons
U1, U3, and U5 respectively wear the earphone devices 100_1, 100_3,
and 100_5 may negotiate with each other to manually operate the
mobile phone device 110 by at least one user/person to use and
operate the user interface 125 to classify their earphone devices
100_1, 100_3, and 100_5 into the same voice communication group
such as the first voice group when each of the earphone devices
100_1, 100_3, and 100_5 is paired with the mobile phone device 110
before entering the walkie-talkie mode. When the earphone devices
100_1, 100_3, and 100_5 are classified into the same voice
communication group such as the first voice group, the mobile phone
device 110 is arranged to send unique information of other
different earphone devices of the first voice group to each
earphone device (i.e. each member device) in the first voice group.
For instance, the processing unit 120 in practice classifies the
MAC addresses of the earphone devices 100_1, 100_3, and 100_5 into
a first walkie-talkie group, transmits the MAC addresses of the
earphone devices 100_1, 100_3 to the earphone device 100_5,
transmits the MAC addresses of the earphone devices 100_1, 100_5 to
the earphone device 100_3, and transmits the MAC addresses of the
earphone devices 100_3, 100_5 to the earphone device 100_1, so that
the information database INFO1 recorded in the earphone device
100_5 comprises MAC addresses of earphone devices 100_1, 100_3, the
information database INFO1 recorded in the earphone device 100_3
comprises MAC addresses of earphone devices 100_1, 100_5, and
similarly the information database INFO1 recorded in the earphone
device 100_1 comprises MAC addresses of earphone devices 100_3,
100_5.
[0035] In detail, the database INFO1 in each of the earphone
devices 100_1, 100_3, and 100_5 for example can be represented by
the following table:
TABLE-US-00002 Address of Address of Group info Member device
mobile phone Name info A1 ADDR_1 ADDR_110 N_1 ADDR_3 ADDR_110 N_3
ADDR_5 ADDR_110 N_5
[0036] In the table, the walkie-talkie group `A1` for example
comprises three member devices (e.g. earphone devices 100_1, 100_3,
and 100_5) having the MAC addresses ADDR_1, ADDR_3, and ADDR_5, the
same MAC address ADDR_110 of mobile phone device 110, and different
name information such as N_1, N_3, and N_5 respectively
representing different users U1, U3, and U5.
[0037] Similarly, for a second voice group different from the first
voice group, users/persons U2, U4 respectively wear the earphone
devices 100_2, 100_4 may negotiate with each other to manually
operate the mobile phone device 110 by at least one user/person to
use and operate the user interface 125 to classify their earphone
devices 100_2, 100_4 into the same voice communication group such
as the second voice group when each of the earphone devices 100_2,
100_4 is paired with the mobile phone device 110 before entering
the walkie-talkie mode. When the earphone devices 100_2, 100_4 are
classified into the same voice communication group such as the
second voice group, the mobile phone device 110 is arranged to send
unique information of other different earphone device(s) of the
second voice group to each earphone device (i.e. each member
device) in the second voice group. For instance, the processing
unit 120 in practice classifies the MAC addresses of the earphone
devices 100_2, 100_4 into a second walkie-talkie group, transmits
the MAC address of the earphone device 100_2 to the earphone device
100_4, transmits the MAC address of the earphone device 100_4 to
the earphone device 100_2, so that the information database INFO1
recorded in the earphone device 100_2 comprises MAC address of
earphone device 100_4 and the information database INFO1 recorded
in the earphone device 100_4 comprises MAC address of earphone
device 100_2. The information database INFO1 does not comprise MAC
addresses of other electronic devices not belonging to the same
voice group even though the other electronic devices are also
within the signal transmission/reception range of the mobile phone
device 110 and paired with the mobile phone device 110 via
Bluetooth communication.
[0038] The database INFO1 in each of the earphone devices 100_2 and
100_4 for example can be represented by the following table:
TABLE-US-00003 Address of Address of Group info Member device
mobile phone Name info A2 ADDR_2 ADDR_110 N_2 ADDR_4 ADDR_110
N_4
[0039] In the table, the walkie-talkie group `A2` for example
comprises two member devices (e.g. earphone devices 100_2 and
100_4) having the MAC addresses ADDR_2 and ADDR_4, the same MAC
address ADDR_110 of mobile phone device 110, and different name
information such as N_2 and N_4 respectively representing different
users U2 and U4.
[0040] For example, when the earphone devices 100_1, 100_3, and
100_5 are in the walkie-talkie mode, a voice packet signal, sent
from the earphone device 100_1, carries its MAC address ADDR_1 of
the earphone device 100_1, and the earphone device e.g. 100_3 can
receive the voice packet signal and then the processing circuit 120
in the earphone device 100_3 can compare the MAC address ADDR_1
included within the voice packet signal with the recorded
information database INFO1 to determine whether to play the
voices/sounds of the voice packet signal for the user U3. Since the
MAC address ADDR_1 is found in the recorded information database
INFO1 of the earphone device 100_3, the earphone device 100_3 can
play the voices/sounds of the voice packet signal for the user U3.
The operation of earphone device 100_5 is similar and not detailed
for brevity. For the earphone devices 100_2, 100_4, since the MAC
address ADDR_1 is not found in the information database INFO1 of
earphone devices 100_2 and 100_4, the earphone devices 100_2 and
100_4 determines discarding the voice packet signals (generated by
the earphone devices 100_1, 100_3, and 100_5) and do not play the
voices/sounds for the users U2 and U4 after comparing the MAC
addresses carried within the voice packet signals with their
recorded information database INFO1. Accordingly, by doing so, this
can achieve different voice group talks in the walkie-talkie
mode.
[0041] Further, in some embodiments, if the earphone device 100_1
in FIG. 3 is classified into the second voice group mentioned
above, then the information table INFO1 of the earphone device
100_1 is represented in the following table:
TABLE-US-00004 Address of Address of Group info Member device
mobile phone Name info A1 ADDR_1 ADDR_110 N_1 ADDR_3 ADDR_110 N_3
ADDR_5 ADDR_110 N_5 A2 ADDR_1 ADDR_110 N_1 ADDR_2 ADDR_110 N_2
ADDR_4 ADDR_110 N_4
[0042] Further, in one embodiment, the walkie-talkie mode can
support the transmission of voice packet signals in different
mobile phone devices via Bluetooth communication standard. FIG. 4
is a diagram of an example of multiple users/persons corresponding
to the same voice group talking with each other in the
walkie-talkie mode by using two mobile phone devices to
transfer/relay voice packet signals of the walkie-talkie mode
according to an embodiment of the invention. Each of earphone
devices 100A_1, 100A_2, 100B_1, 100B_2, and 100B_3 comprises the
same circuit components of the wearable electronic device 100, and
is not shown on FIG. 4 for brevity. Each of mobile phone devices
110A and 110B comprises the same circuit components of the mobile
phone device 110, and is not shown on FIG. 4 for brevity. Each of
earphone devices 100A_1, 100A_2, 100B_1, 100B_2, and 100B_3 can
detect whether a distance between itself and any device among the
other earphone devices is larger than a specific distance threshold
so as to determine whether to enter the walkie-talkie mode.
[0043] As shown in FIG. 4, the group setting of the walkie-talkie
mode can be configured in advance before the wearable electronic
devices 100A_1, 100A_2, 100B_1, 100B_2, and 100B_3 (e.g. earphone
devices) enter the walkie-talkie mode. For example, the devices of
users UA1,UA2, UB1, UB2, and UB3 may be classified into the same
voice group by at least one of themselves by activating a specific
application software running on and executed by the processing
units 110 in the mobile phone devices 110A and 110B to exchange and
share the MAC addresses of the earphone devices, MAC addresses of
mobile phone devices, and/or other corresponding information such
as name information for the corresponding earphone devices 100A_1,
100A_2, 100B_1, 100B_2, and 100B_3. The information database INFO1
recorded in each of the earphone devices 100A_1, 100A_2, 100B_1,
100B_2, and 100B_3 may be shown in the following table:
TABLE-US-00005 Address of Address of Group info Member device
mobile phone Name info A3 ADDR_UA1 ADDR_110A N_UA1 ADDR_UA2
ADDR_110A N_UA2 ADDR_UB1 ADDR_110B N_UB1 ADDR_UB2 ADDR_110B N_UB2
ADDR_UB3 ADDR_110B N_UB3
[0044] In the table, the walkie-talkie group `A3` for example
comprises five member devices (e.g. earphone devices 100A_1,
100A_2, 100B_1, 100B_2, and 100B_3) having the MAC addresses
ADDR_UA1 ADDR_UA2, ADDR_UB1, ADDR_UB2, ADDR_UB3, two different MAC
addresses ADDR_110A and ADDR_110B of two mobile phone devices 110A
and 110B, and different name information such as N_UA1, N_UA2,
N_UB1, N_UB2, and N_UB3.
[0045] For example, when the earphone devices 100A_1, 100A_2,
100B_1, 100B_2, and 100B_3 are in the walkie-talkie mode, a voice
packet signal, sent from the earphone device 100A_1, carries
walkie-talkie group information such as "A3", its MAC address
ADDR_UA1 of the earphone device 100A_1 and/or information of
destination address of mobile phone device(s) comprising the MAC
addresses ADDR_110A and ADDR_110B of the mobile phone devices 110A
and 110B.
[0046] When receiving the voice packet signal sent from the
earphone device 100A_1, the processing unit 120 in the mobile phone
device 110A controls its communication unit 115 to broadcast the
voice packet signal to earphone devices within its signal range and
to reproduce the voice packet signal to relay and transfer the
voice packet signal from the mobile phone device 110A to the mobile
phone device 110B via the Bluetooth communication based on the
received information of destination address of mobile phone device
(s) , i.e. ADDR_110A and ADDR_110B. Then, after receiving the voice
packet signal from mobile phone device 110A, the mobile phone
device 110B is arranged to broadcast such voice packet signal to
the earphone devices within its signal range. In this situation,
the earphone device 100A_2 can receive the voice packet signal and
plays voice message (s) associated with the user UA1 for the user
UA2 so that the user UA2 can know the voice communication of
walkie-talkie group "A3" in the walkie-talkie mode. In addition,
the earphone devices 100B_1, 100B_2, and 100B_3 can also receive
the voice packet signal and plays voice message(s) associated with
the user UA1 for the users UB1, UB2, and UB3, respectively.
[0047] In another embodiment, for example, the devices of users UA1
and UB2 may be further classified into another voice group. The
information database INFO1 recorded in the earphone device 100A_1
may be shown in the following table:
TABLE-US-00006 Address of Address of Group info Member device
mobile phone Name info A3 ADDR_UA1 ADDR_110A N_UA1 ADDR_UA2
ADDR_110A N_UA2 ADDR_UB1 ADDR_110B N_UB1 ADDR_UB2 ADDR_110B N_UB2
ADDR_UB3 ADDR_110B N_UB3 A4 ADDR_UA1 ADDR_110A N_UA1 ADDR_UB2
ADDR_110B N_UB2
[0048] In the table, in addition to the walkie-talkie group `A3`,
the walkie-talkie group `A4` for example comprises two member
devices (e.g. earphone devices 100A_1 and 100B_2) having the MAC
addresses ADDR_UA1 and ADDR_UB2, two different MAC addresses
ADDR_110A and ADDR_110B of two mobile phone devices 110A and 110B,
and different name information such as N_UA1 and N_UB2. When
receiving the voice packet signal sent from the earphone device
100A_1 for the walkie-talkie group `A4`, the mobile phone device
110A does not broadcast the voice packet signal to other earphone
devices within its signal range and is arranged to relay and
transfer the voice packet signal from the mobile phone device 110A
to the mobile phone device 110B via the Bluetooth communication
based on the received information of destination address of mobile
phone device(s), i.e. ADDR_110B. Then, after receiving the voice
packet signal from mobile phone device 110A, the mobile phone
device 110B is arranged to broadcast such voice packet signal to
the earphone devices within its signal range. In this situation,
the earphone device 100B_2 can receive the voice packet signal and
plays voice message(s) associated with the user UA1 for the user
UB2 so that the user UB2 can know the voice communication of
walkie-talkie group "A4" in the walkie-talkie mode. Other earphone
devices 100B_1 and 100B_3 do not receive the voice packet signal
since the MAC addresses of the earphone devices 100B_1 and 100B_3
are not in the walkie-talkie group `A4`.
[0049] Additionally, in one embodiment, the voice packet signal(s)
of walkie-talkie mode can be transferred or relayed by one or more
mobile phone devices in a mesh network via one or more Bluetooth
communication connections. FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of
multiple users/persons belonging to the same group talking with
each other in the walkie-talkie mode by using more than two mobile
phone devices to transfer/relay voice packet signals of the
walkie-talkie mode according to an embodiment of the invention. As
shown in FIG. 5, the mobile phone devices 100A, 100B, 100C, and
100D are in a Bluetooth mesh network. Each of earphone devices
100A_1, 100A_2, 100B_1, 100B_2, 100C_1, 100D_1, 100D_2, and 100D_3
comprises the same circuit elements of the earphone device 100,
provides the same functions and operation, and can detect whether a
distance between itself and any device among the other earphone
devices is larger than a specific distance threshold so as to
determine whether to enter the walkie-talkie mode. For example, the
earphone device 100A_1 may be out of the signal ranges of the
earphone devices 100D_1, 100D_2, and 100D_3; however, this is not
intended to be a limitation.
[0050] For example, the earphone devices 100A_1, 100A_2, 100D_1,
100D_2, and 100D_3, respectively used by the users UAL UA2, UD1,
UD2, and UD3, are classified into the same voice group by using the
specific application software based on their unique information
such as MAC addresses and corresponding MAC addresses of mobile
phone devices 110A and 110D (but not limited). The voice packet
signals of the walkie-talkie mode can be relayed by the mobile
phone devices 110B and 110C via multiple intermediate Bluetooth
communication connections; these signals respectively record
destination address (i.e. the MAC addresses of the mobile phone
devices 100A and 100D) in the mesh network, and thus can be
correctly transmitted between the mobile phone devices 100A and
100D via the other mobile phone devices 100B and 100C.
Additionally, for instance, the earphone devices 100B_1, 100B_2,
and 100C_1, respectively used by the users UB1, UB2, and UC1, maybe
classified into another voice group by using the specific
application software based on their unique information such as MAC
addresses and MAC addresses of corresponding mobile phone devices
110B and 110C (but not limited) . The voice packet signals of the
walkie-talkie mode can be transmitted between the mobile phone
devices 110B and 110C; these signals respectively record
destination address (i.e. the MAC addresses of the mobile phone
devices 100B and 100C) in the mesh network, and thus can be
correctly transmitted between the mobile phone devices 100B and
100C without being transmitted to the mobile phone devices 100A and
100D. The operations of relaying or transferring a voice packet
signal based on the MAC address of the mobile phone at destination
device is similar to the operations of the embodiment in FIG. 4,
and are not detailed for brevity.
[0051] In one embodiment, the voice packet signals of the
walkie-talkie mode can be transmitted via a specific wireless
communication standard different from Bluetooth communication
standard wherein the specific wireless communication standard may
indicate WLAN or wireless broadband communication standards (but
not limited) . FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example of multiple
users/persons corresponding to the same voice group talking with
each other in the walkie-talkie mode by using a station of a
different wireless communication standard to transfer/relay voice
packet signals of the walkie-talkie mode according to an embodiment
of the invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the mobile phone devices
110A, 110B, 110C, and 110D can be wireless connected to one or more
base stations 125 in a wireless communication system based on the
communication of a WLAN system or a wireless broadband system. The
mobile phone devices 110A, 110B, 110C, and 110D can be connected
via internet communication via the base station(s) 125. Each of
earphone devices 100A_1, 100B_1, 100B_2, 100C_1, 100C_2, and 100D_1
comprises the same circuit elements of the earphone device 100,
provides the same functions and operation, and can detect whether a
distance between itself and any device among the other earphone
devices is larger than a specific distance threshold so as to
determine whether to enter the walkie-talkie mode. For example, the
earphone device 100A_1 may be out of the signal ranges of the
earphone devices 100B1 1, 100B_2, 100C_1, 100C_2, and 100D_1;
however, this is not intended to be a limitation.
[0052] For example, the earphone devices 100A_1, 100B_1, 100B_2,
100C_1, 100C_2, and 100D_1, respectively used by the users UA1,
UB1, UB2, UC1, UC2, and UD1, are classified into the same voice
group by using the specific application software based on their
unique information such as MAC addresses (but not limited) . The
voice packet signals of the walkie-talkie mode can be relayed by
the base station 125. For example, the voice packet signals of the
walkie-talkie mode of the Bluetooth communication can be
transmitted between one or more mobile phone devices and can be
transmitted via the base station 125 by using a data packet signal
(carrying the content of such voice packet signal) in the WLAN
system or the wireless broadband system. In one embodiment,
initially the transmission of the voice packet signals of the
walkie-talkie mode can employ the direct transmission between the
earphone devices, and then can try to employ Bluetooth
communications between mobile phone devices in a Bluetooth mesh
network if the direct transmission fails. The transmission may
employ the internet to transmit and relay the voice packet signals
based on internet communication if the Bluetooth communications
between mobile phone devices also fails.
[0053] The operation for recording information in the information
database INFO1 of each earphone devices 100A_1, 100B_1, 100B_2,
100C_1, 100C_2, and 100D_1 is similar to that mentioned above, and
is not detailed for brevity. Further, in other embodiments, the
earphone devices (e.g. 100A_1, 100B_1, and 100B_2) corresponding to
a portion of users such as UA1, UB1, UB2 can be classified into a
voice group while the earphone devices (e.g. 100C_1, 100C_2, and
100D_1) corresponding to a portion of users such as UC1, UC2, UD1
can be classified into a different voice group, and the voice
packet signals of the different voice groups can be respectively
transferred or relayed by the base station 125.
[0054] Further, in other embodiments, the wearable electronic
device 100 such as an earphone/earbud device (but not limited) to
be worn by a user can be arranged to determine whether a
user/person (corresponding to the wearable electronic device 100
itself) contacts another different person(s) (corresponding to
other different wearable electronic device(s)). In the embodiments,
the definition of a person contacting other person(s) may comprise
at least one of the following events: the person physically
contacts at least one different person; the person enters a
personal/proxemics space of the at least one different person and
does not touch the at least one different person; the person has a
talk or conversation with at least one different person within a
short range and does not touch the at least one different person;
the person has an eye contact with at least one different person
within a short range and does not have a talk/conversation; the
person is facing to the at least one different person within a
short range; and so on.
[0055] To determine whether the person contacts another different
person(s), the wearable electronic device 100 (or processing
circuit 101) can detect the distance between the wearable
electronic device 100 and other wearable electronic device (s) used
or carried by another different person(s) to compare the detected
distance with a specific distance threshold. If such detected
distance is or becomes smaller than the specific distance
threshold, the wearable electronic device 100 determines that the
person contacts another different person(s). Instead, if such
detected distance is or becomes larger than the specific distance
threshold, the wearable electronic device 100 determines that the
person does not contact another different person(s). By doing so,
the wearable electronic device 100 can determine whether the
wearable electronic device 100 itself is neighboring to other
wearable electronic device(s). The specific distance threshold for
example is equal to 1 meter, 1.5 meter, 2 meters, or 3 meters (but
not limited). If it is determined that a different wearable
electronic device is a neighbor of the wearable electronic device
100, then the wearable electronic device 100 can decide that a
person using/carrying the different wearable electronic device may
be located within a personal space or proxemics space of the person
using the wearable electronic device 100. In this situation, the
wearable electronic device 100 determines that the person using the
wearable electronic device 100 may contact the person
using/carrying the different wearable electronic device.
[0056] In other embodiments, to determine whether the person using
the wearable electronic device 100 contact the person
using/carrying the different wearable electronic device, the
wearable electronic device 100 can be arranged to use the Bluetooth
direction finding capability to determine whether the face of the
person/user using the device 100 is now facing to the face(s) of
the other user(s) carrying/using the different wearable electronic
device(s). In practice, the wearable electronic device 100 can
calculate the head rotation angle of the person using wearable
electronic device 100 and can also calculate the arrival/departure
angle of signal(s) of the different wearable electronic device(s),
and accordingly can determine whether the face of the person/user
using the device 100 is facing to the face (s) of the other user
(s) based on the head rotation angle and arrival/departure angle.
Further, in other embodiments, the wearable electronic device 100
and the different wearable electronic device(s) may respectively
calculate their corresponding persons/users' head rotation angles
and then may exchange or share information of the head rotation
angles with each other timely or periodically so as to determine
whether their corresponding persons/users are face to face. If it
is determined that the person/user using the device 100 is facing
to the face (s) of the other user(s) in a short range, then the
wearable electronic device 100 can determine that the person/user
using the device 100 may have a talk/conversation and/or an eye
contact with other person(s) within a personal space so as to
determine that the person/user using the device 100 contacts the
other person(s). It should be noted that the wearable electronic
device may further employ the detection of distance between two
wearable electronic devices to precisely or exactly detect and
determine whether the person/user using the device 100 has a
talk/conversation and/or an eye contact with other person (s) in a
specific distance range. The modifications are not meant to be
limitations of the invention.
[0057] In addition, to calculate the total contact time, in
practice, the wearable electronic device 100 can be arranged to
calculate or derive the total contact time period by configuring a
start timing of the total time period for the detected distance
becoming smaller than the specific distance threshold and an end
timing of the total contact time period for the detected distance
becoming larger than the specific distance threshold. In one
embodiment, the wearable electronic device 100 can be arranged to
calculate or derive the total contact time period by using the
Bluetooth direction finding capability. For example, the start of
the total contact time period may correspond to the timing of the
persons/users becoming face to face and the end of the total
contact time period may correspond to the timing of the
persons/users becoming not face to face. These modifications are
not meant to be limitations of the invention.
[0058] After determining that the person using the wearable
electronic device 100 contacts different person(s) carrying/using
other different device(s), the wearable electronic device 100 may
record the unique information (such as ID) of the different
wearable electronic device and/or a corresponding total contact
time associated with different wearable electronic device as
contact information in the memory 103. The contact information may
be transmitted to and stored in a memory of the mobile phone device
110 used by the person/user via the Bluetooth communication. Such
contact information is used to generate/form a contact history of
the person.
[0059] For example, in FIG. 3, the earphone device 100_1 may use
the distance detection and/or Bluetooth direction finding
capability to determine that the person using the earphone device
100_1 may contact another person using the earphone device 100_2,
and thus the unique information of the earphone device 100_2 and/or
corresponding total contact time may be stored as contact
information in the earphone device 100_1 and/or the contact
information may be transmitted to and stored in the mobile phone
device 110. It should be noted that the unique information of
another earphone device (e.g. device 100_3 used by the person U3
which does not contact the person U1) is not stored in the earphone
device 100_1 as contact information.
[0060] Further, in one embodiment, the contact information may
further comprise unique information of a user/person corresponding
to the different wearable electronic device and/or unique
information of a different type electronic device (e.g. a mobile
phone or smart phone) corresponding to the different wearable
electronic device. For example, in FIG. 4, if the earphone device
100A_2 used by the person/user UA2 determines that the person UA2
contacts the person UB1 using the earphone device 100B_1, the
earphone device 100A_2 may send a request to the different wearable
electronic device (i.e. the earphone device 100B_1) to ask for a
response associated with unique information of the user/person UB1
and/or a response associated with unique information of a different
type electronic device (e.g. the mobile phone device 110B)
corresponding to the different wearable electronic device 100B_1.
If the above unique information can be exchanged or shared, then
the earphone device 100A_2 is arranged to store the unique
information into the memory 103 as contact information after
receiving the above unique information. The above unique
information may be also transmitted from the earphone device 100A_2
to the mobile phone device 110A so that the person/user UA2 using
the mobile phone device 110A can know his/her contact history.
[0061] Accordingly, once the person/user using the mobile phone
device 110 in the future is identified as a patient with suspected
or confirmed, the above contact history can be provided and
revealed to the hospital or related government department. Based on
the full contact history recorded and generated by the wearable
electronic device, it is easy to know which people may be likely to
be infected by the person/user using the wearable electronic device
so as to early identify and prevent disease transmission.
[0062] Compared to the prior art, the wearable electronic device
based on precise distance detection and Bluetooth direction finding
can accurately/precisely determine whether a person may have a
talk/conversion and/or eye-contact with other person(s) and/or
whether a person may enter a personal space of another person (i.e.
more close to the another person), so as to determine whether the
person contacts other person(s). The performance of contact history
detection is significantly improved since a conventional location
tracking system such as WiFi system may merely provide a level of
accuracy ranging from three to five meters.
[0063] Further, the wearable electronic device 100 can further use
the distance detection and/or Bluetooth direction finding
capability to calculate and collect a travel history of the
person/user using the wearable electronic device 100 itself. In the
embodiments, the travel history comprises at least one of the
activity route and activity time of the person/user using the
wearable electronic device 100. FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example
of using the Bluetooth direction finding capability of wearable
electronic device 100 to generate and obtain the travel history of
the person/user using the wearable electronic device 100 according
to an embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 7, multiple
Bluetooth locator stations having Bluetooth communication
capabilities (respectively indicated by `A1`, `A2`, `A3`, . . . ,
`A10`, but not limited) may be disposed at different locations
within a place such as a tourist factory (but not limited) on FIG.
7. In an example, a visitor (indicated by `.DELTA.`) such as a
person/user using or carrying the wearable electronic device 100
may enter the tourist factory to have a chance to experience the
factory's history, get up-close and personal with the assembly
line, manufacturing process, and enjoy shopping and eating; R2
indicates a walking route of such visitor `.DELTA.`. Other
visitors/persons are indicated by a different sign
`.box-solid.`.
[0064] The wearable electronic device 100 or mobile phone device
110 can generate a head rotation angle estimation which can
indicate that the person/user is facing towards one or more
Bluetooth locator station(s) on FIG. 7 by detecting and calculating
the rotation angle information mentioned above real-timely. For
example, the visitor `.DELTA.` may go through the different
locations which the different Bluetooth locator stations (`A1`,
`A2`, `A3`, . . . , `A10`) are disposed. For instance, the visitor
`.DELTA.` may be at or arrive at the location which the Bluetooth
locator station `A1` is disposed at the time such as two o'clock in
the afternoon (indicated by `14:00`). In this situation, the
wearable electronic device 100 can use the distance detection
and/or Bluetooth direction finding capability to detect the
distance between the wearable electronic device 100 and Bluetooth
locator station `A1` and/or detect whether the visitor `.DELTA.`
becomes facing towards the Bluetooth locator station `A1` so as to
determine whether the place is a contacted area of the visitor
`.DELTA.`. For example, when detected distance is smaller than a
particular distance threshold such as 1 meter, 1.5 meter, or 2
meter (not limited) and/or when the visitor `.DELTA.` becomes
facing towards the Bluetooth locator station `A1`, the wearable
electronic device 100 may determine that the corresponding place is
a contacted area of the visitor `.DELTA.`. Then, the wearable
electronic device 100 can record/store, the place information,
arrival time, total stay/contact time, and departure time
corresponding to the place in its memory if it is determined that
the place is the contacted area. The above-mentioned travel
information stored in the memory can be real-timely and/or
periodically provided and transmitted to the mobile phone device
110 used by the visitor `.DELTA.` to generate and display a travel
history for the visitor `.DELTA.` so that the visitor `.DELTA.` can
know whether he/she arrived at contacted area(s)/location(s) of a
patient with suspected or confirmed if the patient entered the
factory.
[0065] Also, for the Bluetooth locator station `A1`, it can use the
distance detection and/or Bluetooth direction finding capability to
detect the distance between the wearable electronic device 100 and
Bluetooth locator station `A1` and/or detect whether the visitor
`.DELTA.` becomes facing towards the Bluetooth locator station `A1`
so as to determine and record information of which person, wearable
electronic device, and/or mobile phone device maybe at or arrive at
such place. For example, when it is determined that such place is a
contacted area of the visitor `.DELTA.` by the same way, the
Bluetooth locator station `A1` can record/store one or more unique
information of the visitor `.DELTA.`, wearable electronic device
100, and/or mobile phone device 110. Also, the Bluetooth locator
station `A1` can record and store the arrival time, total
stay/contact time, and departure time corresponding to the visitor
`.DELTA.`.
[0066] Similarly, for each different Bluetooth locator stations
`A2`, `A3`, . . . , and `A10` the wearable electronic device 100
can determine whether the corresponding place of each Bluetooth
locator station is a contacted area of the visitor `.DELTA.` and
record corresponding information (e.g. the place information,
arrival time, total stay/contact time, and/or departure time
corresponding to the place), and each Bluetooth locator station can
determine whether its place is a contacted area of the visitor
`.DELTA.` and also record and store corresponding information (e.g.
unique information of the visitor `.DELTA.`, wearable electronic
device 100, and/or mobile phone device 110, the arrival time, total
stay/contact time, and/or departure time corresponding to the
visitor `.DELTA.`).
[0067] The travel information of the visitor `.DELTA.`,
respectively recorded or stored in the contacted or pass-by
Bluetooth locator station(s) can be provided to generate the travel
history of the visitor `.DELTA.` and the generated travel history
can be provided and revealed to the hospital or related government
department if the visitor `.DELTA.` is identified as a patient with
suspected or confirmed in the future, so that it is easy to know
which people may be likely to be infected to early identify and
prevent disease transmission.
[0068] Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous
modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made
while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the
above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes
and bounds of the appended claims.
* * * * *